Song of Moses

There's a command in Scripture over and over again. Sing a new song. Scripture tells us to sing a new song. And what this means when declared in Scripture is that God has done something new. Because God has done something new for us and to us, we should sing a new song. Because God has brought a new deliverance, we now have a new song on our lips. His praises are new. because he has revealed himself in a new way. We want to sing praises new every day because we should always be seeing God do something new this morning. We're going to be looking at the first song like this recorded in Scripture. We're in Exodus 15, so it's a very old song. But for Israel, if we're really going to appreciate this, we want to see that it's a it's a new song for them. A new deliverance has taken place. If you weren't with us last week, or if you were and you've forgotten, we were just in Exodus 14. One of the most important passages in the Old Testament. It's the paradigm for deliverance for Israel. God has taken Israel into Egypt. For 400 years they were there, many of them as slaves, and they cried out to God, and God delivered them definitively. With ten plagues, he demonstrated that he alone is God and that he was more glorious and more powerful than any other so-called God of Egypt. He demonstrated absolutely that he alone is God and worthy of worship. This song Remembers he even greater delivers not just the ten plagues, but when God brought Israel right to the sea and then he brought Pharaoh right behind them and then they were stuck and they could only trust in God. But instead of trusting in God, they grumbled, they complained. And God did not forsake his promise, God part of the sea, God let them walk on dry land, and whenever they were through, he continued to harden Pharaoh's heart and they rushed into the sea. And God then destroyed them with the waves of the sea. He crushed them. Here we see Moses and Israel remembering that great deliverance. They're singing a new song because God has revealed himself in a new way, a faithful, gracious and trustworthy God. So there's there's two ways in which they're singing here, they sing first to remember what God has done. And then they seem to look forward to what God will continue to do. The big idea of this morning is we seem to remember God's faithfulness in the past and to expect his future provision. Every song should have this as part of it as part of our worship. We seem to remember God's faithfulness in the past and to remind ourselves to expect his future provision. So God has delivered Israel. That's where we are now. They're on the other side of the Red Sea. The bodies and the chariots of Egypt are on the seashore. And Israel looks up and they proclaim the greatness of God. Now, let me give us some some key, some reminders of some some key issues here that have been revealed in Exodus. The book of Exodus. Just as all scripture, but Exodus particularly and very focused. The goal of God in Exodus is to make his name known. Is to make sure that everyone, especially Israel, his own people, especially Egypt, that land where his people are being captured and enslaved, but all the world, he wants all the world to know that he alone is God. He wants all the world to know that Yahweh is the one true God who creates who saves and he is with his people. That's the main goal here. And so everything he's been doing up to this point is to make his name known. And as we'll see, one of his goals or two of them, rather, one is that Egypt would know that God is Yahweh is God. Well, they know that now because they've been destroyed and that Israel would worship God. And we'll see that they do that as well. There are two parts to the song. One looks back, one looks forward. The break appears to be between verses 12 and verses 13. And then we have a little additional song with Miriam at the end. As we listen, listen for the judgment in this passage. Listen for how God is praised and glorified for being a God who judges, a God who triumphs, and a God who saves. Listen for the details in which Israel goes into to extol and to proclaim the triumph of God. Finally, there's a past and there's a present. Listen for how much it's about God. This is a model for us for a song, because when we sing, we're singing of God. He is the one we sing about. The name of God, Yahweh, is used 12 times. He is used 33 times. That's 45 times that they reference. You are the God who has done something or you are the God who I praise. They are lifting their hearts up to God. Please read with me in your copy of Scripture. If you don't have a copy, there are copies of the ESV at the end of the pew. You can tap your neighbor and ask them to pass it down. I'll be reading chapter 15 up through verse 21. Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the Lord, saying, I will sing to the Lord for he has triumphed gloriously. The horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea. The Lord is my strength and my song and he has become my salvation. This is my God, and I will praise Him, my Father's God, and I will exalt Him. The Lord is a man of war. The Lord is His name. Pharaoh's chariots and his host, he cast into the sea, and his chosen officers were sunk in the Red Sea. The floods covered them. They went down into the depths like a stone. Your right hand, O Lord, glorious in power. Your right hand, O Lord, shatters the enemy. In the greatness of your majesty, you overthrow your adversaries. You send out your fury. It consumes them like stubble. At the blast of your nostrils, the waters piled up. The floods stood up in a heap. The deeps congealed in the heart of the sea. The enemy said, I will pursue. I will overtake. I will divide the spoil. My desire shall have its fill of them. I will draw my sword. My hand shall destroy them. You blew your wind. The sea covered them. They sink like lead in the mighty waters. Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders. You stretched out your right hand. The earth swallowed them. You have led in your steadfast love the people whom you have redeemed. You have guided them by your strength to your holy abode. The people have heard they tremble. Pangs have seized the inhabitants of Felicia. Now are the chiefs of Edom dismayed. Trembling seizes the leaders of Moab. All the inhabitants of Canaan have melted away. Terror and dread fall upon them because of the greatness of your arm. They are still a stone to your people, O Lord, pass by, to the people pass by whom you have purchased. You will bring them in and plant them on your own mountain. The place, O Lord, which you have made for your abode, the sanctuary, O Lord, which your hands have established. The Lord will reign forever and ever. For when the horses of Pharaoh, with his chariots and his horsemen, went into the sea, the Lord brought back the waters of the sea upon them. For the people of Israel walked on dry ground in the midst of the sea. Then Miriam, the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women went out after her with tambourines and dancing. And Miriam sang to them, Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously. The horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea." Now, one clear application is we need to add a tambourine. Maybe not. More seriously, though, We want to look at the structure of this passage. We want to look and see the we're going to really focus on the song of what many call the song of Moses. But notice it's Moses and the people of Israel singing together. This is better called because the song of Moses is really in Deuteronomy 32. This is probably a better name, the song of the sea, or even more precisely, the song of deliverance at the sea. Because this is remembering the most important deliverance that Israel would know up to this point. And that Israel would really know up to the point of Jesus Christ dying on the cross. So our structure again is verses 1 through 12 is your first section recalling what just happened. This has put the new song on their lips that God is the one who saves. And this is verses 13 to 18. which looks forward to what God will continue to do. Let's look at verse one. The Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the Lord. I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously. The horse and the rider he is thrown into the sea. Now we have to look back to Exodus 14.4 where before he delivers Israel in the sea, he actually goes ahead and gives his purpose to Moses. He says, I will harden Pharaoh's heart and he will pursue them and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his hosts. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord. That's just one chapter earlier, 14.4. God has done what he has said he would do. And now Israel is looking up and they're saying, you have had your triumph, you have gloried, you have received glory, you have glorified yourself over Pharaoh. Now, what does it mean that he's glorified himself over Pharaoh? We can see a likeness in boxing when it was a big sport. I think it's lost its own glory. But back when Ali and Frazier were fighting, they battled and the winner had glory over the other one. They boasted, they bragged, they stood over them. When a boxer would knock out or knock down another boxer, he is receiving glory. He's glorifying himself in triumph over him. God has gone to battle. God has called Pharaoh out to battle. But there's really no contest. But God has called him out to battle to show, I am the one God. You have no power. So God has glorified himself over Pharaoh by conquering him. Pharaoh who thought he was a god or a son of a god. The one true God has said, no, I am the one true God. You will worship me. The second verse, so the first verse shows that he has glorified himself over Pharaoh. The second verse also fulfills what God has already said he will do. Verse two, the Lord is my strength and my song and he has become my salvation. This is my God and I will praise him, my father's God, and I will exalt him. This is the same people who when Pharaoh came up in their chariots. He said, have you brought us here because there's no graves in Egypt? I mean, hours earlier, a day at max here, when Pharaoh was driving up, they were saying, we told you to leave us alone. Is it not better to serve in Egypt than die in the wilderness, mocking and accusing Moses and God for the goodness he's done? And now, because of this great salvation, their hearts have been changed. Their hearts have turned. They praise God. God said Israel will know that I am their God, that I am with them, that I fight for them, that I am working for their good and they will exalt me. And here we see that they have responded. Now, sadly, Israel still has a little bit of grumble or a lot rather. If you just look to the very next scene, verse 24, the water's bitter and they grumble. But here they have responded appropriately. Here we can see that they are a model for how we should respond. They have exalted God. They're exalting God. They see that he is their salvation and they respond appropriately with worship. And we can actually look at the next. Section here, verses three all the way to 12, and we see the focus is on God's judgment. They're praising God for judging and conquering. God is a man of war. He has fought for his people. He has fought for his own glory. And as the Egyptians even said, God is fighting for them and against us. He is committed to his own people and his own glory. And it's amazing that the amount of detail that Moses and Israel goes into in terms of the destruction. His chariots and the host, they came into the sea, they they sunk like a stone, they sunk like lead with his nostrils, he he piled up the waters and they said they're going to overtake them and God crushed them under those waters. This makes some of us feel a little uneasy. To praise God for his judgment. We love to sing about God's love. We love to sing about God's light. But here we are called to sing of God's judgment. God is right. God is just. God is good. That means he is too. We need to praise him because every judgment he makes is praiseworthy. Many refuse Christ because they don't like the idea that God is judge. Friend, we don't need Christ if God is not a judge. The whole reason Christ came is that God judges our sin. God is good and right, and his wrath is right to be against our sin. Christ is only helpful for us if we actually recognize that God is a judge. There's there's a tension in Scripture. God is just. He must punish every sin, God is just. And then, as we could have looked at in on Reformation Day, we have to ask, well, how can God be the one who justified and be the God who's just? How is it that God can be just and punish every sin, but yet declare to some people you are, as if not a sinner? That's because God has chosen to take upon our sin on himself. The father sent his son to die as if a sinner. And this is key for how we will praise God for being a just judge. We'll look at that more in the application of our passage. Look at verse nine. Our song focuses on the intention of Pharaoh. The enemy said, I'll pursue him. I will overtake him. I will divide the spoil. I will draw my sword. My hand shall destroy him. They rush into the waters before they truly have the scales authorized to see what's really happening here. God is against them and for their people. But it shows the pride and the greed. It shows the destructiveness of sin. Sinful ambition only leads to destruction. Sinful ambition never leads to any good. They desire the destruction of Israel, and that desire is their own downfall. Let's look at verses six. Let's look at verse six. He goes back a number of times and focuses on the right hand of God, your right hand, O Lord, glorious in power, your right hand, O Lord, shatters the enemies. It's important to see here that God is a God of action. God is a God who is working and fighting for his people. The right hand is his power that symbolizes his might and his power, and it is being stretched out for God's people. He's not a God who's sitting back and watching. He's not a God who's distant. He's a God who is active and fights for his people, the one he has chosen to save. And then as we conclude this stanza, the only proper reflection for responding to what just happened. Again, God has said, I want my people to know that I alone am God. He wants everyone to know that Yahweh alone is God. Look at verse 11. The people respond, Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders? You stretched out your right hand, the earth, There is no one like God. He is the only true God. He is the only one who is majestic in holiness and awesome in his glorious deeds. He is the one God who is with them and who has fought for them. Let's look to our second section here. The second stanza. Verse 13. The focus on how they have been led by God. While this people have continued to complain and grumble, now, at least for this moment, they can see that God has been good, that God has been faithful. You have led in your steadfast love, your never ending, your perfect love, the love that endures, the love that is constant, the love that is not dependent upon how we act, the love that is committed from God to his people. You have led in your steadfast love the people whom you have redeemed. The people who were covered by the blood of the Lamb. The people who were forgiven because of their faith in God. The people who have followed. You have guided them by your strength to your holy abode. Here we see that they are recognizing God has been good to us. God has been faithful even when we are faithless. The second thing we see, not only do they recognize that God has been guiding them, they look forward. The people will tremble. God's purpose is for all the nations to fear him, to worship him, to recognize that he is God and to acknowledge that. Look at what they are predicting will happen in verses 14 through 16. The peoples have heard they tremble. Pangs have seized the inhabitants of Philistia. Now the chiefs of Edom, dismayed, trembling, seizes the leaders of Moab. All the inhabitants of Canaan have melted away. Terror and dread fall upon them. They're looking ahead and they're seeing the fame of God. The rumor of what God has done is going to spread throughout the country. And those nations that are still between them and the promised land, they're going to hear of God's great deeds and they're going to fear God. We actually see this explicitly going to turn their Joshua to or you can hear it. Rahab, when they receive the spies, when she receives a spot, she gives testimony that this looking forward expectation has come true. Before the men lay down, she came up to them on the roof and said to them, I know that the Lord has given you the land. and that the fear of you has fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land melt away before you. For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sion and Og, whom you devoted to destruction. And as soon as we heard it, our hearts melted and there was no spirit left in any man because of you. For the Lord your God, he is God in heavens above and on earth beneath. The nation should hear what God has done. The nation should hear what God has accomplished. He dried up the sea. He delivered them. He's destroyed any enemy that stood in their way, fulfilling the Abrahamic promise. I will curse anyone who curses you. I will bless those who bless you. Realize here that God's goal is to be worshipped. God's goal is his own glory, because that is the perfect end. Sadly, Rahab here makes one of the greatest confessions in all scripture, and it's greater than what you typically see from God's own people who constantly grumble and complain. Our final observation in the text, they trust that God will complete His work. He is not only calling them out of Egypt, He's calling them to serve Him, and He said, I will deliver you into the promised land. They know the work isn't yet complete. They know they've been brought out with a mighty hand. Now they're going to be going somewhere after this great deliverance. Verses 17 and 18, you will bring them in and plant them on your own mountain, the place, O Lord, which you have made for your abode, the sanctuary, O Lord, which your hands have established. The Lord will reign forever and ever. Now, there's some question. What is the referent here? What is the mountain? What is the place that Moses and Israel are speaking of? And one option is Sinai. One option is Jerusalem where the temple will be built. What is the exact referent? I'm not sure we have to say it's only one of them. Because wherever God is, there's his temple. Whoever God is with, they are God's people. And so God is with them on Sinai. And so that could be your own mount. I think it is referring to Sinai, but it also could be referring just as easily to Jerusalem at the same time. See, God's presence is what makes a place holy. God's presence is what makes a people holy. We notice here, God isn't just seeking to take one people and take them out of one land and put them in another. God's goal is to take them out of one land and to be with them in another. God's goal is to have a relationship, to establish a relationship with his people. So what can we learn from this song? What should we meditate upon as we meditate on this song that is a response to God's great deliverance? The first thing we need to see is that God is worthy of our praise. God is worthy of our worship. We are called to glorify God. We are called to exalt him in everything we do. Now, here we're focused on a song. Moses glorified them in a song. But it's not just singing that praises God. See, there was an unfortunate naming of a part of the worship service. I don't know when it happened or who did it, but I blame them. You know that part of our worship service when we sang the first song and we finished singing the last song before the prayer of praise and the offering. Somebody called that praise and worship time. That's an unfortunate naming because this entire time was praise and worship time. We should be praising and worshiping now. As you hear God's word, as you hear his promise read, as you hear it proclaimed, that should be creating worship. As Protestants, The central part of the service is actually the sermon. The goal is to focus on the word. We praise him in song, we praise him in scripture reading, we praise him in prayer, we praise him in tithing, we praise him when hearing a sermon. One of my favorite things is to sing together. I do love congregational singing. I love worshiping with you. I love hearing the body of Christ sing praise in unison together. But I also love to hear you seeing outside of this congregation. I love to hear how you are praising God in your workplace. We we can't limit praise to here. We can't limit praise to these four walls. We can't believe that these actually create a secular and sacred divide where you come in, you you do your praise and worship. Maybe you you think you're giving God his little bit of time of the week or maybe you're getting recharged. Now, what's happening is you come here to sing together, we come here to hear God's Word together, and then we go out and we continue to worship. We worship Him in the workplace, we worship Him in the home, we worship God in the class. Every aspect of life is an arena for worship. So one of the dangers is if we forget that our work is a way to worship God, We'll begin worshipping work. If we forget that raising our family and committing ourselves to our spouses and being true to God is a way to worship God, then we'll start worshipping what we're doing in our homes. If we forget that eating food is a way of worshipping God and praising him for his abundance and his blessing, we'll start worshipping food. That's the nature of our hearts. They're quite sick. We're sinners. If we're not seeing everything we do as a way of worshipping God, we're going to begin worshipping that thing. Getting good grades in school, you'll begin worshipping your own accomplishments if you do not see that as a way of worshipping God. All of life is meant to be worshipping the one true God. We can see this. What did God continue to say to Pharaoh? Let my people go that they may serve me. That word serve includes in it the idea of worship. Let them go out so they may worship me, so they may obey me. And it wasn't just to happen on Mount Sinai. It wasn't just to happen on the Sabbath. It was to happen all the time. We must sing his praise at all times. We must stop grumbling. We must stop complaining. We must seek to worship him. We must hear the words of Paul in Philippians 4 for rejoice in the Lord always again, I will say rejoice. No matter what befalls us, no matter what evil is all around us, no matter what kind of temptation is facing us, we must constantly look to rejoice in God and his goodness. God is worthy of our praise and we must give it to him. No. I wanted to think further about this and that. What are two things that keep us from praising God? What are some of the things that keep us praising God? I think there are two basic problems that would keep us from praising God. The first one is our own self-righteousness. You see, they're praising God because they just realized they were saved from an enemy that they had no hope against. They're going to, they were a grumbling people. They're going to return to being a grumbling people. But right there, they were just saved. Their self-righteousness was broken down. Our self-righteousness, our thinking that we're fine without God, our thinking that we are sufficient to do what we need to do. That's what keeps us from praising God. The idea that we deserve God's grace and God's love, that keeps us from praising Him. It's only when we realize the depth of our sin and the greatness of God's righteousness that judges that sin. We truly praise him because we know we get we do not get what we deserve. So one thing that may keep you from praise. Is your own self-righteousness. The second thing is our sin. The second thing that keeps us from praising God as we ought is our sin, and that's when Satan starts accusing us. He starts telling us, you're a sinner. How could you possibly lift up your hands and your eyes to God and praise him? And at one level, that's a powerful declaration from Satan because it's partially right. We are sinners. But it's a lie because it's acting as if your sin keeps you from God, if Christ has been your savior. See, as Christians, we are plagued with guilt when we have no guilt. Yes, our sin is powerful. Our sin would have destroyed us. But if we believed in Christ. Our sin doesn't keep us from knowing God. Our sin keeps us from enjoying the love of God. If you're a Christian and your sin is keeping you from worshiping. Know that you are unworthy to worship God, but because of Christ, he has made you a child of God and you need to seek the forgiveness that is only found in Christ. You do not repent to be in right standing with God. You repent so that you can actually enjoy the love of God. So the first thing we see is that God is to be praised. The second. God is to be praised for his justice. God is to be praised for his judgment. This is a little more focused now. Not only has God to be praised, he is to be praised because he is a right judge. And this is already somewhat uncomfortable because we don't like to talk about God's judgment. There's only a few instances in life that praising and rejoicing in judgment is good, and that is whenever a family who has had a family member injured by someone and they're sentenced against the offender, they may rejoice because they feel like justice has been done. The other is in wartime. We rejoice over the defeat of the Germans or the Japanese. But we generally feel uncomfortable about speaking of God's judgment. When I ask people to tell me what is the gospel, I ask my favorite, one of my favorite questions I ask people when I meet them, tell me what the gospel is. I love to hear others tell me what the gospel is. And there's a certain answer that I just sit back and I relax on. And that's when they start with God is holy. When they start the answer to the question, what is the gospel? When they start, God is just and holy. I kind of sit back and I'm just going to enjoy this because they started In the logical place, it's going to take them straight to the gospel. If you begin that God is just and holy and righteous, there's only one place to go, and that is that you are a sinner who is under judgment and in need of Christ. As I've reflected upon this and the need for us to focus on God's judgment, because we don't sing of it in the sense that Moses is singing of it. I've wrestled, do we need to add more songs about God's judgment? We we meet the musicians and I and we we actually think, what kind of songs do we need to add to our regular rotations that we're singing about God in his in his fullness? And I wrestled, do we need to add any songs about his judgment? I actually realized, no, we sing of God's judgment quite often. We praise God for his judgment often here. We've even done it today. We sang in our second song, verse five. He sent his son with power to save from guilt and darkness in the grave. Wonders of grace to God belong. Repeat his mercies in your song. See, we as Christians, we praise God for his judgment quite differently than Moses. We're not praising God because he's killing people and destroying an enemy who has a sword in their hand. We praise God because his judgment has been satisfied in Christ. We're actually going to be singing of God's judgment forever. Look at Revelation 19 or listen to Revelation 19. After this, I heard what seemed to be the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven crying out, Hallelujah. Salvation and glory and power belong to our God. For his judgments are true and just. For he has judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her immorality and has avenged on her the blood of his servants. So we we need to praise God for being a God who judges. We need to be able to praise God for being a God who is holy and just and does not let any sin go unpunished. We also need to praise God, and the only way to do that is to praise God who is just when we see that he is also the God who justifies. We praise him because he has not poured his wrath out on us as children. He poured his wrath out on his own son. We sing praises to God for his judgment when we sing of Christ. Another song that we sing, how deep the Father's love for us, how great the pain of searing loss, the Father turns his face away, as wounds which mar the chosen one bring many sons to glory. Behold the man upon a cross, my sin upon his shoulders. Ashamed, I hear my mocking voice call out among the scoffers, it was my sin that left him there until it was accomplished. His dying breath has brought me life. I know that it is finished. It is my sin that has nailed Christ to the cross. It is my sin that he is being judged for and it is finished in him or in Christ alone. In Christ alone who took on flesh, fullness of God and helpless babe, this gift of love and righteousness scorned by the ones he came to save. Till on that cross, as Jesus died, the wrath of God was satisfied. For every sin on him was laid here in the death of Christ. I live. So we sing of his judgment. We praise God for his judgment, and I want to say only Christians can really praise God for his judgment. Because only we can praise him as the one God who will judge every sin and see that he judges them for us in Christ. We praise God because he is the just God. And that we know that his justice has been satisfied in Christ. Now, what does this mean and how we respond to those who die without Christ? We don't celebrate their death. We don't rejoice that they are being judged and punished, we mourn for them. It should create a thankfulness for God in his judgment, but we do not celebrate over the death of anyone who does not know Christ. We do celebrate for those who have only died in Christ. The key is we must remember he's perfect. He's good and he's righteous. One other thing I want us to see in verse nine. The army rushes in because of their pride and their greed. Our sin is what destroys us. Our own sin and rebellion is what brings about our judgment. If you're not a Christian this morning. That's the place you're in. You're in the place of those who are rushing in to fight against God. You're in the place of those who will be crushed by God. You cannot win that battle. But here's the good news. There's a God who fights for you. Almighty God Himself has sent His Son so that you will not have to be crushed for your sin. The Son has been crushed for your sin. You need only to believe in Him And your sins will no longer be against you because they will be counted against him. For the church, this. Means we have a new disposition. As it is, God is a man of war. And again, there's a I assume there's a bit of unease, there's a man of war, but but God is a God of peace. Yes, he's provided us peace, but we're still the church militant. We're longing to be the church at rest, but we're the church militant. We're a church who is called to war. We're a church that is called to fight against our own sin. We're not a church that's called to correct the morals of the nation. We're a church that's called to fight against our own sin and to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ. We're in a battle against the gates of hell over the souls of sinners. Church isn't about being comfortable. We look forward to the day when we're comfortable. The church at rest is a comfortable church because we no longer have our sin hindering us from worshiping God. No, today we're a church at war. If you want to be comfortable, this isn't the church. We need to be a church that is expecting God to call us into battles. This is a church that should expect God to give us victory in those battles against our own sin and in our proclamation of the gospel. We cannot seek comfort at church. We should be seeking for God's word to make us feel uncomfortable in our sin and have peace with Christ. Finally, friends, one of the great declarations of this song is that God saves his people. He was with his people, he fought for his people, he led his people out of Egypt and out of slavery. And we can see the clear parallel. We saw it in Isaiah last week. We can see the clear parallel. Christ has come to lead us out of our sin, out of our darkness and into the kingdom of light. We can look to Hebrews six. to see Christ as this leader that we need to deliver us. We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Mechizedek. Or 1 Peter 3.18, For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the Spirit. The difference in Moses leading Israel at the Red Sea and Jesus leading the church now is Moses couldn't finish the job. He never took them to the Promised Land. Knowing that the destination wasn't quite as good either because he was just supposed to be taking them to a land. No, Christ is a better leader because he finishes the job and he takes us to a better place. He takes us into the presence of God. Friend, if you're a Christian, you have access to be as close to the father as the son is right now. The son stands at the right hand of the father and he is your mediator. The author of Hebrews says, enter boldly into the holy place. We have the opportunity to have an intimacy with the father that the son used to only share. He leads us into salvation, he leads us not into a land, but in the very presence of God. And how do we enter into that presence of God? So recognize that Christ has died for us. He is risen again, and that as we repent of our sin, we can experience a clear vision of God. It really is about having more faith. To enter boldly into the presence of God. Let me conclude with this. The way to build up our faith is the same way this song reads. By looking back, and looking forward. If we want to build up our faith, if we want to encourage a stronger faith in us. We need to be looking back. We need to look back to see how God has been faithful for thousands of years. We need to look back and see how God has always been faithful to his promises and even looking back on our lives and seeing that God has carried us even while we were still sinners. We need to look forward. We need to look forward to when Christ will return. When we can worship him without the taint of sin. We can worship him unhindered by our own enslaved sinful habits. We need to look forward to when Christ will come and fulfill what he has promised. He will establish us on his holy mountain. He will bring us into the wedding feast of the Lamb. There will be a final deliverance. Friends, we need to look back to how God has saved us in Christ and his resurrection and how we will continue and finish that salvation in his return. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Father, as we have meditated upon this new song from Moses, may you put in our hearts a new song. Whether it be recognizing your salvation for the first time, I pray for anyone here who does not know you, that they would see their sin and your righteousness and your justice and see that they only have peace in Christ. May they sing a new song today because your spirit has given them new life. May your church sing a new song today. As we sing, the Lord will provide. Help us, Lord, to remember you have provided our every need, not only for our physical well-being, but you have provided your own son to die for us. What would you possibly hold back if you have not, if you have already given us your son? Help us, Lord, to praise you with a new song, recognizing your great justice and your holiness. Give us a new song to praise you. For how you deliver us from our sins. Father. Teach us to sing of your glory, your power and your faithfulness. Every day and every minute. In the name of Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.